Behind the controversial decision to replace Patrick Beach with Mat Ryan against Egypt
The shock goalkeeper change was a plan prepared weeks in advance.
No, no This; the other in June 2022. When Andrew Redmayne rose to mainstream fame as “The Gray Wiggler”. Then Socceroos coach Graham Arnold did the unthinkable during the dying embers of extra time against Peru, replacing captain Mat Ryan with the friendly bearded giant who he believed would win the subsequent penalty shoot-out to qualify for the Qatar World Cup.
Everyone knows the story of the knockout play-off, with Redmayne’s distracting dance floor antics, water bottle shenanigans and his determined move to rob Alex Valera of a penalty kick. After the match it became clear that the option had been on the table for weeks and Redmayne knew it.
“The longer the camp went on, the more comfortable I felt with this scenario,” Redmayne said at the time. “I don’t think any of the players knew about it. A few players practiced in the first half because I did a few drills to distract myself. Maty was also giving support right before the penalties. He was getting me pumped up and ready. Maty didn’t know. He said, ‘Thanks mate, this is your time’.”
Four years later, Arnold’s successor Tony Popovic implemented almost the same surprise substitution in Australia’s 2026 World Cup last-32 clash with Egypt. However, this time it was not Ryan who connected with Redmayne, but Patrick Beach who connected with Ryan. We can say that he is the anti-Arnie. And there were also two other important differences in this extra-time change: the Socceroos didn’t win and Ryan had no idea what was going to happen.
“I heard this for the first time going into overtime and [Paul] The other goalkeeper, Izzo, was told to stay warm, and I was probably told right before half-time that if we didn’t make more substitutes, they were going to put me in there at the last minute,” said a shaken Ryan, who failed to save any of Egypt’s penalty kicks in a 4-2 shootout rout in Dallas.
“Of course, I prepared before the match as if I was going to play or be in that scenario as I always do. But unfortunately.” [I’m] It hurts right now because I couldn’t produce for myself, my teammates and my country. “Inflicting pain is not enough.”
The beach was also in darkness.
“I learned it at the same time you did,” Beach said. “Obviously there was a plan put in place and we had no way of knowing. Our job is just to focus on the game and what’s going on right now.”
“There was a general decision and discussion, that’s all. The coaches made a decision and Maty and I are here to do what is best for the team and what brings the best result for our team.
“Of course, I would love to be in the penalty shootout, but as I said, this is a decision made by the boss. There is no other feeling. I respect him and I respect this decision.”
For Popovic, the call for left-field selection was one from the buffet that has been around Australia’s entire season, highlighted by so many changes to the starting XI that the biggest announcement ahead of Saturday’s match was the naming of an unchanged squad.
Some of them worked, while others were heavily criticized. Beach’s unexpected usurpation of Ryan as first choice for these assignments falls into the first category. The 22-year-old put in four stunning performances as No1 and his dismissal was even more surprising; It came on the heels of a superb reflex save in injury time to keep the Socceroos in the extra-time reckoning in the first place.
“Patrick is new as a goalkeeper,” Popovic said. “Not just in the national team, but even in club football. We felt Maty’s experience would make the difference. In the end it didn’t work out that way, but it wasn’t because of Maty’s poor judgment or incompetence; they got critical penalties.”
Of course, if Ryan saves the penalty, Harry Souttar and Lucas Herrington do not miss the penalty and the team advances to the round of 16, the story changes completely. The 34-year-old, who recently finished at La Liga club Levante, was precise in the penalty kill and was the protagonist of the Socceroos’ last major tournament shootout, making two stunning saves against Uzbekistan in the second round of the 2019 Asian Cup. 16.
It’s also hard to forget how at the 2014 World Cup, manager Louis Van Gaal brought in Tim Krul to replace Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen to score a successful penalty kick in the quarter-final against Costa Rica.
However, Saturday’s events tell the story of a goalkeeper who was not used even once before the 119th minute of the match and finished the penalty without touching the ball. This story is a gamble that ultimately backfired.
It’s easy to point out that Ryan isn’t Redmayne’s (and Beach’s) height in this version. It’s clear to argue that Beach is in good form and confident, and therefore more ready for the charged energy of that dreaded spot-kick sweep.
It is logical to highlight what happened after extra time, when Egypt’s players huddled around a laptop screen, poring over videos of Ryan’s final attempts to save a penalty kick for his club, and concluding that such footage of Beach would be much less easy to find.
Jackson Irvine, who took the penalty kick, said the players “maybe had a little bit of a feeling” that the goalkeeper change was coming. “But that wasn’t something the players were told,” Irvine said. “Having him coming also gave us a little extra energy.”
Souttar was almost speechless when asked. “I really don’t know,” he said. “It was a decision. I really don’t have anything to say about it.”
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